Night
by Aiko-chan
Summary: Sometimes what you want the most is what you hope you never get.


**Night**  
  
  
A divine hand painted the summer sky in the glowing colors of twilight. The air cooled as the sun sank lower behind the hills; the crickets began warming up for their nightly symphony. A breeze, chilly but with traces of warmth, stirred her soft violet hair as she stood on the porch.  
  
Aeka wrapped her arms around herself, shivering not from the cold, but from the ache in her heart. His words were sharp in her ears and heavy upon her heart.  
  
_I love you._  
  
_No,_ she had wanted to scream back at him, _you can't love me! You can't!_ Tears stung her eyes. She bit her lower lip.  
  
The sun disappeared. Moths danced around the porch light above her. Aeka leaned against the pole supporting the porch's roof, holding down the sobs that threatened to rise in her throat.  
  
Behind her, the door slid open. Soft footsteps approached. "Aeka?"  
  
She winced. His voice brought the conflicting emotions back up within her: it stirred her, made her long to reach out to him as he longed to reach out to her; it pained her, caused her heart to bleed; it made her soul grow heavy and sink in guilt and regret.  
  
His hand rested upon her shoulder lightly, hesitantly, as though he were unsure whether he should touch her or not. Her every fiber screamed in protest - and in agreement. "Aeka?" he said again, gently. "Are you all right?"  
  
A long, leaden pause settled over them. It took every tiny scrap of will she had to slowly turn and face him.  
  
Her eyes were anguished as she gazed up at him from under fluffy purple bangs. "Do you realize," Aeka whispered, each of her words falling heavily, "what is happening to her?"  
  
Tenchi furrowed his brow, puzzled. "Aeka..."  
  
"Do you realize what she is going through?"  
  
His chocolate-brown eyes softened. She could clearly read the regret painted within them. "Yes," he admitted, his voice soft. "Yes, I do. And you can't understand how badly it hurts me. But I had---"  
  
"No," she interrupted. "I _can_ understand, and I do."  
  
He stared back, not understanding. "But... Aeka, I thought that when I told you... I thought..."  
  
"Did you think I would be happy?" Her voice had a harsh edge to it that she had not intended to put there. "You know how dear Ryoko is to me, despite all our conflict. How could I gloat? How could I be happy with you, knowing that her heart is shattered?" Aeka turned away, drifting to the opposite side of the porch, the wooden beams creaking beneath her bare feet. "You have ruined everything."  
  
"Ruined?" His voice revealed quite clearly that this was not what he had expected or intended.  
  
Her voice sounded softer to him that it was, for her back was to him. "You weren't supposed to choose."  
  
The smothering silence returned. Faintly, they could hear someone speaking inside. Washuu. Trying to calm Ryoko, most likely.  
  
At long last, Aeka spoke once again. "You weren't supposed to choose, Tenchi."  
  
"But you told me to!" he cried, his voice shaking with a combination of regret, anguish, and anger. "You and Ryoko both! You always begged me to make my decision." Aeka was silent, allowing him to speak his piece. "So I thought and prayed and did everything I could to figure it out. I listened to my heart. I listened to my _heart_, Aeka, and it was crying out for you!"  
  
The tears grew stronger than she. Aeka began to cry, harsh sobs shaking her delicate frame. Tenchi fell silent.  
  
She turned back to him once more, choking out through her sobbing, "It wasn't supposed to be this way!"  
  
Compassion flared in Tenchi's heart, and he stepped forward, moving to put his arms around her and comfort her. He came not as a lover, but as a friend, and yet she shrank away from his touch. "No," she gasped, "no."  
  
"I want to make it right."  
  
"You can't, Tenchi." She fought the tears back down so that no more came, but she did not wipe those that stained her cheeks already. She straightened her posture, tipping her chin up to maintain her dignity, although it didn't really matter anymore. "You ruined it. It was supposed to always be the same. It was a game, Tenchi, a very delicate game. Both of us wanted you, but neither of us could have you. It hurt, but we accepted it. Why couldn't you?"  
  
He stared back, tears of his own now spilling out of his eyes. "I didn't know." His voice cracked halfway through his statement, and he paused, clearing his throat. "I... didn't know. How was I supposed to? Did you think I'd just _assume_ that I wasn't supposed to choose when both of you asked me to?"  
  
For the third time, the silence came between them. Neither had any more to say. There was nothing that could resolve the issue, no words or actions to heal the wounds that had been inflicted. The crickets spoke alone, serenading the two as they stood, facing one another, tearful and wishing things had not happened this way.  
  
The door opened, spilling yellow light onto the dark porch. Washuu stood in the doorway, tears streaming down her own face as well. The parties on the porch stared at her, taken aback. They had never seen Washuu cry.  
  
The petite redhead turned to Tenchi. There was no malice in her wide emerald eyes. "Ryoko wants you to know she's sorry," she whispered.  
  
Tenchi hung his head, squeezing his eyes shut. The tears kept coming. He knew that if anyone should be sorry, it should be him. And he was. Oh, he was.  
  
Slowly, Washuu slipped back inside. Aeka passed Tenchi wordlessly, vanishing into the house as well. The door remained open, waiting for him to come inside, but the young man did not. He could not face those whose hearts he had broken. He closed the door.  
  
The stars, trapped up in the velvet night sky, wept upon the scene. The wind stirred the trees, who whispered in regretful voices. The crickets, forever musical, sang of anguish and despair as Tenchi disappeared into the night.  
  
  
  
Tenchi Muyo! and all related characters © AIC/Pioneer. "Night" © Aiko-chan. 


End file.
